You gotta love the Southpaw. In the world of 'cross, the Southpaw's the chump who has to port the bike with the drive side jammed into their backs on every run up. This said, the 'chumps' that seem to be southpaw by birth are proportionally more than not world champions. Here we have 7 time world champion Eric De Vlaeminick railing it southpaw style with Guimard doing some of the hup hup behind him. Compare that with (2003 Junior World Champion) and perennial Sven Nijs chaser Sven Vantourenhout.

All of us need to be working on those 'weak side' dis/re-mounts. Perhaps a little something to practice over the summer boys and girls!

Thanks to Evan who found all of these EPIC old cycling mags on eBay and sent me some scans of the covers!

Reader Comments (7)

south paw step through dismount practice...

talk about a recipe for slicing open the calves of cyclocrossers...

You could argue that those southpaws are great despite their handicap dismount style. just think how dominate they would have been if they'd actually learned to get on and off the bike the right way...

that or most barriers aren't at high speed dismount sections where the step through advantage comes into play...

and yes... ridiculous animals, agreed...

video of EdV would be unbelievable! But his technique is based on having spikes in his heels and toeclips (as one main difference). Something not to be overlooked when studying the history of our dearly beloved sport.

Ah, B-J-M. I studied that youngster for years weekend in and out when I lived in the Bay Area. He and Justin Robinson were/are my core heroes. Indeed he's got the southpaw portage style and is ridiculously smooth.